Aerosmith - Honkin’ On Bobo
Sound: B Music: C-
It’s been a while since this Boston-born band supplied me with
anything I’d readily listen to. However, I was eager to hear Aerosmith
take on some of the songs that had something of an influence on their early
music. I haven’t followed their career much since the mid-90s ended, and
their primary audience shifted to one comprised mainly of teenage girls.
Don’t ask me how it happened; I can’t really explain it either. In
keeping with the band’s current ideals, this album is skinny on any real
substance, and it certainly doesn‘t feel like a lot of thought or care was put
into it. Thus, we have Honkin’ On
Bobo.
Rather than stripping the material down to its bare bones and
doing it justice, we’ve got twelve unnecessary remakes that don’t spark any
interest in acquiring the originals. This could have been a real keeper
if the band got together and wrote down their thoughts on the songs, maybe what
it was that drew them to include them here in the first place. Even
Metallica went through the trouble to say what influence the songs had on them
when the time came for the release of Garage, Inc. Not only that,
but since this material is largely foreign to Aerosmith’s core audience, a
second disc with the songs performed by their original artists (when available)
would have been a nice gesture to their older fans and blues purists.
What we get instead of the extensive liner notes I’d have
preferred are photos of the band striking poses in exaggerated and brightly
colored suits. The music itself becomes bland when Aerosmith puts their
spin on it, effectively bastardizing the songs. A similar-minded
collection that came out this past year was The Misfits: Project 1950 album.
It’s pretty much the same case of ruining some great songs there, but
Jerry Only at least had the good taste to explain why he felt the need to
butcher his favorite songs from the 50’s and 60’s.
The PCM 2.0 sound quality on the disc is clean and is the average
for studio albums... which is a problem in a way. It should feel a little
bit dated, alive and gritty - not plastic and polished. I really don’t
think that this band knows why they went through with this collection.
Besides, it isn’t like they have any real need to play the blues these
days; they’ve got enough money to keep themselves happy for a long time to
come. I feel that George Carlin caps things off best with this quote -
“I’ll tell you a little secret about the blues: it’s not enough to know which
notes to play, you have to know why they need to be played.”
- David Milchick
